[ad_1] The two proposals are being funded in $400,000, nine-month concept studies. Whichever proposal wins the day will launch as one of the payloads aboard the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) in October 2024. That might not sound like a lot of money even at such an early stage, but that’s part of the […]
Category: Nasa
NASA chooses four potential asteroid sample sites for OSIRIS-REx
[ad_1] The fact that OSIRIS-Rex was designed to identify sample sites with an 82-foot radius made things even more difficult. To be able to find four boulder-free areas, the mission team had to adjust the spacecraft’s sample site identification process to be able to detect sites with a radius of 16 to 33 feet. The […]
Second failure of ExoMars parachute test throws schedule in jeopardy
[ad_1] Given that the parachutes will be lowering the ExoMars rover onto the Red Planet itself, such flaws are more than a slight hiccup. “It is disappointing that the precautionary design adaptations introduced following the anomalies of the last test have not helped us to pass the second test successfully,” said Francois Spoto, team leader […]
NASA solar probe sends back data from its first two visits
[ad_1] Parker’s ground team found out soon after launch that the probe is capable of a higher downlink rate. In fact, they’re taking advantage of that ability by instructing the probe to send back even more data from the second encounter in April. During that event, the spacecraft’s four suites of science instruments kept busy […]
NASA will help SpaceX and Blue Origin develop future mission technology
[ad_1] One of NASA’s chosen companies is SpaceX, which will work on advancing its technology to land large rockets vertically on the moon with the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Elon Musk’s company is also teaming up with NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama to refine its […]
Watch the Mars 2020 rover do a biceps curl with an 88-pound turret
[ad_1] Mars 2020’s turret weighs that much, because it’s equipped with HD cameras and a rich collection of sensors and science instruments, including a percussive drill and coring mechanism. While Martian gravity is only about 38 percent of our planet’s, the ground team still made sure the arm is sturdy and strong enough to be […]
How long is that in moon years?
[ad_1] Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Listen project has teamed with the researchers at VERITAS Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System in hopes of finding signs of intelligent life, and then communicating with it, via high tech Morse code. Specifically, the VERITAS’s 4-telescope array will beam nanosecond long bursts of laser energy into the cosmos, hopefully […]
NASA’s Orion crew capsule is ready for its uncrewed trip to the Moon
[ad_1] The first crewed mission is Artemis 2, currently slated for 2022. The capsule is a relatively complex beast. It has enough survival equipment for 21 days of active crew time, a modern cockpit, automatic docking and a whopping 12 engines. It needs that volume of equipment, though. It’s meant to be the main crew […]
Neil Armstrong’s Buzz Aldrin photo is unparalleled in art
[ad_1] When the first manned missions started, NASA had more to worry about than photography. In fact, the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, picked up a $40 Minolta Ansco Autoset 35mm camera himself from a Florida camera shop. The third man in space, Walter Schirra, did the same thing, but went […]
The race back to the Moon
[ad_1] Bound for the Moon: Apollo 11 preparation in photosAlan Taylor,The Atlantic Sure, this more Recommended Looking, but this photo essay is a fascinating look at the process of prepping Apollo 11 for its historic mission. ‘We did the impossible’: What it was like inside Apollo 11’s Mission ControlAshley Strickland,CNN A look inside Mission Control […]